Waitkus excelled on the diamond first at Cambridge High and Latin School and later in New England semi-pro ball.

He began his pro career in 1937 playing for the Worumbo Indians, a semi-pro team sponsored by Worumbo Woolen Mill in Lisbon Falls, Maine.

Lisbon was a hotbed of baseball for many years, even more so than today. A local American Legion sponsored baseball team composed of Lisbon area high school students won the New England championship in 1929 and went to the semi-finals in Washington D.C. where they were eliminated. Lisbon also had a semi-pro baseball team, the Worumbo Indians, who went to the national finals in Kansas. Eddie Waitkus, who played for the Chicago Cubs for years, first played for the Worumbo Indians. Their ball field, complete with a covered grandstand, was near the present white Worumbo Mill and the river.

Since he was only 17 years old when he arrived in Maine, he had to tell a white lie when he applied for his social security number because he could not play professional baseball unless he was 18 years old. You'll find some documents that state he was born in 1919 but in reality he was born in 1920.

In 1938 and 1939 he played in the Illinois-Indiana-Iowa League with Moline for the Chicago Cubs minor league affiliate the Plowboys.

Ralph Wheeler, the Boston Herald  prep sports editor, steered the 19-year-old phenom to the Chicago Cubs.

In December 1938, Waitkus received a $2,500 signing bonus by inking a $300-a-month contract with the Moline Plowboys, the Cubs affiliate in the Class B Illinois-Indiana-Iowa League.

Playing for the first time under lights, Waitkus struggled during his first two months of professional ball, batting a meager .189. Once he grew accustomed to the substandard lighting schemes of most Three Eye ballparks, he went on a tear, finishing the season with a solid .326 average. He led first baseman in games played (122), putouts (1,093), assists (69), and double plays (96). The Plowboys (49-73) finished the season seventh in the eight-team circuit.